Tech Stackmap, a Strategic Ally in Organizations
Today, organizations have the need to join digital transformation processes to integrate emerging technologies into all areas. If you consider that your company is in the process of transformation, then Stackmap is your strategic ally.
Addressing this transformation implies a cultural, technological and internal process change in your organization that you must be willing to accept. You will not only introduce new technologies to your organization, but also new ways of working and thinking by doing so. You have to train teams to get the most out of all digital tools. This motivates you to have a tech stackmap, in order to have all the knowledge of tools and processes that are involved. Let’s see what it’s all about!
What Is a Tech Stack?
A tech stack, also called a technology stack, is the combination of technologies that an organization uses to create and run software products. It is composed of programming languages, tools, platforms, services, and other components. In short, it is the set of technologies with which software products are developed.
Each software project is unique, and they vary according to their nature and objectives, so no tech stack is better than other: there is no stack that can be considered as a “silver bullet.” Decisions about it should be made based on resources, organizational objectives and project objectives, since the choice should be aligned with organizational needs.
When organizing the stack, the taxonomy may vary depending on the languages, tools, platforms, and services we use to address the project; but there are some points that can be considered as essential nowadays when assembling a tech stack:
- Front-end technologies (programming languages and frameworks).
- Back-end technologies (programming languages and frameworks).
- Persistence (cache, database).
- Infrastructure (cloud computing, servers, operating systems).
- DevOps (continuous integration, continuous delivery).
- Testing (unit testing, automation, E2E testing).
- Observability & monitoring.
Where to Start
As a starting point, prior to its definition, we must keep in mind what the requirements are. It is important to understand the linked business processes, what problems it solves, what the target audience is, among other things. There are a number of factors that have an impact when defining the stack. For example, a video streaming service will focus on certain factors, while a digital banking platform or ERP will focus on others.
Some of the factors that are necessary to analyze when defining the stack are:
- Objectives, scope and complexity of the project: the nature of the project is a factor that has a lot of influence when determining the stack. There are several aspects to consider such as capacity, availability, security and scalability (the latter, I will develop here below).
- Community: It is important that technologies have a community in which there is support, where knowledge, experience and, above all, talent can be sought.
- Scalability: we must take into account a stack that allows us to scale the project. In the face of changes in the business, either due to new requirements or modifications in current ones, the stack must allow us to grow and adapt.
- Maintainability: this is when we must ask ourselves about maintenance costs. And not in monetary terms, since it is necessary to consider how expensive it will be to maintain the stack if there are changes, adjustments, updates and improvements.
- Security & Privacy: it is another relevant factor that we must take into account from the beginning of the project. It is important to consider user security and data privacy.
Which Steps Should You Follow?
There is a number of steps we recommend for you to build and organize your tech stackmap:
1. Audit the tech stack
The starting point to start developing a stack is to carry out an audit that allows you to know what tools are being used, what processes are involved and what they contribute to the organization. For this, you have to answer certain questions that allow you to discover the relationship of the business with the technologies in your organization. For example, you can inquire:
- What digital tools does the organization currently use?
- In which internal and external processes of the organization are digital tools involved?
- What technologies and versions do these tools use?
2. Identify organizational problems
It is important that you identify the needs within the organization, which processes are involved with the digital tools that exist in it, and which are not aligned with business processes. You also have to highlight what problems exist on a day-to-day basis, which will help identify what does not work correctly and requires a digital transformation to improve internally.
3. Set a budget
Based on all the previous analysis, once you have identified the tools and technologies that are necessary for the organization (thus accompanying the digital transformation process), you have to put together a budget in which it is evident how much the organization owns and invests, either in products, tools or licenses, among other things.
4. Document results
As a final step, you must document the results obtained from the previous steps, thus building the tech stackmap. This works as evidence of the entire current technological stack and the technologies that will be incorporated within the organization, along with the processes that are involved. The tech stackmap will not be definite, it will change over time, so we must take into account its update.
What Happens if You Choose Poorly?
As indicated beforehand, there is no stack that is perfect: it is determined based on the analysis of the organization and the projects, considering the different aspects that’ve been already mentioned. Not doing a correct analysis at this stage can lead to an ill-advised definition of the tech stack.
This scenario can be costly for projects in many ways: from not being scalable or adaptable, to not having the availability of resources. Likewise, it can negatively impact the organization if it can’t adapt to business needs, or in the event that information security and data quality are affected. These are some of the possible consequences and risks to which organizations are exposed in a digital transformation process without an adequate prior analysis process.
To Sum Up
Having a technological stack that adapts to the needs of your organization and accompanies business processes has become a key factor. Consequently, it is necessary that you do a mapping of the tech stack, in order to know and organize the technologies of software products. If you choose it and apply it correctly, the technological stack will accompany the processes and organizational strategies.
While there is no tech stack that is considered a “silver bullet,” you should keep in mind that, as your organization’s goals change, your tech stack should be able to do so as well. For that reason, it is very important that you have a tech stackmap of your organization’s software products.
At the same time, you must consider the expansion of the business, ensuring and foreseeing the future of the projects, contemplating the growth and scalability of such projects. It is important to perform a thorough analysis in your organization to define the tech stackmap, which will allow you to have a global vision of the technologies defined and used in your organization.
